Category Archives: Science

On Classroom Arguments

I’ve been teaching at the college level now for about six years. I’m teaching a course (Principles of Paleontology) that I’ve now taught in its current form four times. It’s becoming old-hat. I’m familiar enough with the lecture notes by now that I find I’m just reading off what I’d written years ago without much thought. Continue reading “On Classroom Arguments”

“B” is for Baiotomeus

“B” is for Baiotomeus

Baiotomeus is a member of the Order Mulituberculata, which were an abundant group of mammals thought to occupy similar niches as modern rodents. Multituberculates were unique to identify by their blade-like lower fourth premolar and teeth with multiple cusps. They were rather Lego-like in appearance.

Continue reading ““B” is for Baiotomeus”

Running TNT for Phylogenetic Analysis (on a Mac)

This blog post is meant to be informational. You can stop reading now if you don’t know what a cladistic analysis is and don’t care to ever know how to do one.

If you’re still reading, this post is written to provide what I’ve learned about getting TNT, a free phylogenetic analysis program, to work properly on a Mac. Bear in mind that I do not currently own a Mac. What I’m sharing with you is what we figured out as a class when I had my students use this program as part of a cladistics exercise.Continue reading “Running TNT for Phylogenetic Analysis (on a Mac)”